Brussels, my love? “The EU’s migration muddle and tanks for Ukraine”

The Euronews Brussels bureau brings you its newest episode of a brand new speak present that goals to interrupt down European information and politics to make it extra accessible to viewers. 

This week’s episode options the Dutch member of the European Parliament, Jeroen Lenaers from the European Folks’s Social gathering, Vlad Gheorghe, a Romanian MEP from Renew Europe and Helena Hahn, a coverage analyst on the European Coverage Centre.

European Union leaders and 15 EU Commissioners visited the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv this week for conferences with Ukraine’s authorities. It was a historic summit, given it passed off whereas the nation is at conflict.

The EU promised a tenth spherical of measures in opposition to Russia to mark one 12 months because the Russian invasion started. Nonetheless, what Ukraine wants now greater than guests are weapons. So the panelists this week mentioned Germany’s determination to lastly ship Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and argued it ought to have been executed earlier.

The panelists additionally delved into the subject of migration and the truth that the EU nonetheless has no functioning migrant and asylum pact. 

EU heads of state and authorities will meet subsequent week in Brussels to handle this difficulty. Panelists welcomed the summit, however have been skeptical it will reap outcomes. The European Parliament hopes that EU governments could have a correct plan in place forward of the European elections in 2024.

“I do not assume that subsequent week’s Council will abruptly carry a magical resolution to the migration difficulty. It is a very advanced difficulty”, Jeroen Lenaers advised the panel including {that a} holistic method was wanted. 

“So it will be not real looking to ask for some kind of an answer. What we do want is a powerful dedication from the leaders to guarantee that earlier than the subsequent European elections we could have a functioning Migration Pact”.

“It’s not acceptable that within the European Union, after 9 years, we nonetheless haven’t got an answer,” he mentioned. 

For the Romanian MEP Vlad Gheorghe, there was no straightforward reply both however he was in opposition to the current calls from the Austrian chancellor to make use of €2 billion of EU funding to construct a wall between Bulgaria and Turkey.

“There is no such thing as a silver bullet on this. And politicians just like the Austrian chancellor, belief me, consider me, I’ve just about zero belief in somebody like him, particularly when he comes up with a magical resolution like that. I believe that is simply politics, and I believe that may lead us to what has occurred till now: only a pause till the subsequent elections,” Gheorghe mentioned.

Watch “Brussels, my love?” within the video participant above.